Changed Life
by Tatsukage
Summary: You wake up as a giant robot lion. How do you react?
1. Prologue

I awoke in utter blackness. Drifting in and out of consciousness. Eventually I find myself laying down. I push on the floor, but I feel... heavy. Weighted. A whining sound greets my ears and I look around to see what it is. Stonework is the order of the day, it seems, the floor being made of some cobbled together granite. How did I know that? I push up all the way and look around. Brick upon brick extends outwards and the roof seems to reach on and up forever, a twinkling light off in the distance signifying the sky. Maybe? It was hard to tell.

I was on a pedestal. Or… altar. Or something. I tried to walk forward, but that heaviness in my limbs kept me from getting anywhere with any semblance of expedience. Looking back up, I had to wonder; did I really fall all that way and live? I look around some more. As the haze in my head cleared and my vision became sharper, I could see I was in some sort of staging area. "Recovery complete," rang out a synthetic woman's voice. Recovery? What recovery? "Beginning armament process." Suddenly I began to get heavier. MUCH heavier. Just when I thought that I couldn't take it anymore her voice came once more. "Armament process completed. Calibrating sensors." Sensors? I couldn't-

Before I could finish the question in my head there was a flood of awareness as everything became clearer. The distances of the walls, the altitude of the hole in the ceilings. I somehow knew there were no lifesigns around me and that there was one recently deceased human only ten meters away. Looking down, I saw… no, that isn't possible. I started scrambling backwards, or trying, to as my vision zoomed in on me. Splattered on the stone, but… wrong. That was my favorite shirt, and those were my work boots; I could tell by the paint splattered on the shirt's left sleeve and the toe of the right boot from painting the garage. But the head, MY head, wasn't torn like the rest of me. It was cut open and hollowed, but I couldn't tell how much.

And I was tiny. No, I wasn't. I'm six feet tall. How could I look like I was the size of a housecat? "Rising stress levels detected. Powering down systems." I felt things becoming distant, and I became terrified. I started struggling and straining against whatever it was that held me in place. My hands and feet seemed bolted in. I pulled hard and with the sound of tearing metal one of my limbs could move. Things broke around me and ceased becoming distant, and began to return to clarity. Another foot free and what I detected as titanium scaffolding and support struts crumpled around me. Cables detached and hoses pulled out while alarms rang out. "Activating defensive countermeasures. Commencing restraint procedures."

Both of my remaining limbs ripped from their restraints and I felt a need to shake some, causing more of the supports to collapse. Sparks shot out around me and I looked around the room. A great door to one side all but beckoned to me. I cast one last glance to my… corpse… and decided to leave it there. I obviously wasn't needing it anymore. I start to walk forward, getting used to the foreign and alien body and breaking free of the remaining cables, restraints, and tubes. I wanted the hangar bay doors gone and they just exploded. I dug my… claws… into the stonework as I'm rocketed back by some powerful force. Did I do that? Was that a gun? ::Hybrid cannon test successful:: A message scrolls across one corner of my vision. Test? I didn't wait for answers. Panels on the walls began to open up and turrets powered up weapons. I start moving sluggishly, building up speed and feeling every last piece of armor and every gun on my presumably massive body shifting to my movements. Walking through my 'exit' a new message popped up in my vision. ::Guysak detected. Threat level; minimal.:: Guysak? What had I gotten myself into?

Inside what I presumed to be another hangar a mechanical scorpion readied itself for battle. It trundles forward on its eight legs, rubbing its pincers together like it was sharpening blades against each other. I wasn't stopping. The Guysak, I guess that's what it was, fires its tail mounted laser at me but the damage simply glances off the thick armor. I didn't even notice. I bulldoze over it, crushing the thing under what I can only assume was more tonnage than that thing could ever hope to compare to.

The doors at the other end open up in anticipation of an approaching… thing… and I find myself locking into a rail system. The elevator I am in lifts me up and I wait somewhat patiently. I would have paced, but even if I wasn't held in place the elevator wasn't big enough for me to move around very much anyways. I find myself launched like a missile at the top and I crash into the desert sands above. Warning alarms blare from the catapult behind me and I start a slow trot that eventually evolves into a blazing dash across the sands. A counter begins ticking up as my speed builds to a fear fueled sprint twitching back and forth between 284 and 285 kilometers per hour.

There was no going back to my life before. Could you really see a giant mech working as a mechanic and trying to repair vehicles smaller than its foot and playing video games all day? I certainly couldn't. Once I felt I was far away enough from the facility that changed me to whatever it was I became I slow to a steady walk. The moonlight vaguely illuminated my unmarked path through the sands, but it didn't really matter. There was nothing but emptiness as far as my eyes and sensors could see in the direction I had run in. Guess I chose poorly when I bolted, but in my defense fear doesn't give you a lot of time to be choosy about which you you run away.

I trip over something buried in the sand and stumble a bit. I wipe the sand away and a reflective bit of metal glints in the moon's glow. I look at the reflection of myself. A Panzer unit? The white and green face of the Panzar CAS. It was hard for me to look to the sides to look myself over. I couldn't believe it, but there it was. I lay down, thinking.

::System diagnostic...:: Diagnostic? Oh boy... ::Diagnostic complete. Bio-integration complete.:: When I was about to question what it meant, it brought up a schematic of my body, and somewhere near the where the heart of a real lion would be it highlights the AI core. A virtual image of my... brain... appears next to it. Existential crisis ho...


	2. Chapter 1: Abduction

I'm not sure how long I lay in the sands contemplating my new existence. Minutes? Hours? All I know is that it wasn't more than a night because I never saw the sun rise and given my new less than organic body, I didn't need to sleep, so I didn't. Movement didn't seem all that fluid either. Every magnetic actuator in my frame went into overdrive when I wanted to even lift my head to look around.

I didn't know if anybody was looking for me or not. I didn't exactly stay to see if anybody, or anything, answered those alarms besides that scorpion. I also didn't want to think of whether or not it was like me; a brain in a jar stuck inside a new shell. Even now that thought sent shivers through my chassis. A blip on my sensors drew my attention to the south. Radar pinged an aerial craft heading directly my way. As I force myself to my feet I turn that direction so I can see what's happening. It was huge, almost six times as tall as I am, and way, WAY longer. Even a grease monkey like me who never participated in Zoid battling before could tell it was a Whale King.

If I could have blinked, I would have. It had already begun scanning me while blocking out any further scans of my own. I turn back west and take a step, then another. Each step caused that number in the bottom left of my HUD to tick a little higher until I was tearing back at that 285 kilometers per hour across the desert sands westwards. I was fast, compared to when I was human anyways, but there was no outrunning that Whale King. It turned to change its course to intercept. I didn't know what they wanted with me, but I did know that I didn't want to be captured. Pushing as hard as my mechanical body would allow, I continued my futile efforts until it was hovering overhead and matched speed.

I cast about frantically to see what options I had. By now my subconscious processes had tested all weapons in simulations and… wow… that's a lot of guns… Panzer earned its name and then some. Some of these weapons and combos could obliterate half a battalion of Zoids with a single strafe. I couldn't outrun the Whale King, but maybe I could…

That thought never finished when I felt a quintet of cables strike and latch on to me. Then I felt my feet leave the ground permanently. Instinctively I felt myself roar and it shook the cables with wrath that I don't think I ever had before my 'operation'. I remembered that Hybrid Cannon, but when I saw how high I was, I thought better of it. By the time I recovered from the fall, I would have been buried under the Whale King. That was a big 'nope'. I looked around as the cables took me up into the hangar bay.

Four other Zoids were locked into stowage bays, but with the tarps over them, I couldn't see what they were, and my sensors were still blocked. Lots of crates of parts and there was a gutted Command Wolf to one side. "First catch of the day and what a record breaker it is," came a gravelly man's voice over a speaker. "You should know that there's a lot of bad people in the wastes who take advantage of folks like you who are by themselves." I felt the Whale King shift course to the north. "We ain't got the tools to get through that armor on board, but the garage'll have what we need." The cables release a jolt and all the actuators in my body lock up. I get lowered to the ground and locked into place.

"Why don't you open your cockpit and we'll let you off someplace safe? Promise all we wanted was your ride." I didn't know what to do. Did I have a cockpit? If I did, how did I open it? As these thoughts raced through my mind I felt a click and a rush of air inside my head.

A grease covered mechanic looks up waiting holding a crowbar in case my 'pilot' decided to try anything funny. "Well?" he calls out. "You comin' down, or do I have to come up there and get ya?" Obviously silence rang out. He grumbles and gets a pushable staircase and gets it into position against my head. When he gets there, the cameras inside my cockpit record the priceless look of confusion on his face. "Boss! There ain't nobody here."

"What do you mean?" snapped the other man's voice over the speaker again. "Zoids don't just pilot themselves. Get that thing hooked up to the computers. We need to see what we've caught. Might want to sell it whole instead of in pieces."

I would have fought, but those cables kept me from doing anything. Every time I tried to move, a subtle increase in the electrical discharge kept my actuators in check. An hour later, they began scanning me and doing data dives. They're starting to know more about me than I know about me.

I nudged. What did that? I pan my cameras around, looking for the source. Movement catches my eye, or… what served as it… but it was off. Spectral almost. When I look at the tarps, one of them has a shimmer over it, and something moves. Again, if I could have blinked, I would have. A crack of thunder fills the hangar bay and suddenly the cables snap. The shimmer fades and so too does the tarp. I'd never seen a Zoid like it before. It looks mostly like a fox, but it's white with black and gold details. Two long golden blades mounted to its shoulder blades are retracted along the length of its torso, but a large sniper cannon smokes and is pointed at and above me. I sluggishly turn and aim the triple barrel shock cannon mounted just under my neck and fire a few quick, precise shots to return the favor.

I shake some, almost like a dog shaking water from its fur, as the feeling returns to my body. Just like before, I shatter scaffolding and tear cables. Now in control of my body, I eject all the unwanted additions and close my cockpit when it empties. "Stop those things!" comes the leader's voice over the loudspeakers. I get an idea and fire the hybrid cannon at the bay doors. Looking through the new hole, I could see we hovered low over the sands, but at all I can guess as max speed. Bullets pinged off my armor and I turned around to face what attacked me. Just the mechanics and various security forces, but they were all on foot. Looking back to the Fox, it was jumping through the hole the twin rail guns had made. Just before it finished, its tail flicked over and a net launches from its tip, ensnaring most of the people that were firing at me.

More options began popping up across my HUD. One caught my attention more than all the others, highlighted in red. Burning Big Bang? I felt every panel on my body open up, and boy were there a lot of them. Everything around started exploding as missile after missile launched and exploded, destroying anything and everything they touched. Warning alarms began blaring and fires spread. Various cargo crates exploded in their places from the heat and I took this as my opportunity to vacate the Whale King's future wreck. I plodded to the hole I made before and hopped through, landing with a crash and a massive cloud of smoke as my body skids across the sands. Body heat was through the roof and my own alarms were going off. Looking up, the Whale King listed to one side and was wracked by more explosions. Systems began shutting down and my vision faded, leaving me smoldering but triumphant as a blinding flash turned a large swath of the desert into a glassy waste.


	3. Chapter 2: On and Off The Road Again

It's still hot. Not like it was a moment ago, but… it wasn't what a human would call comfortable. As 'feeling' came back to my body I look around, taking stock of my surroundings. I'm still in the desert, like that would have changed, but now it's midday. I wracked my brain to remember what happened, and all I can remember was enough searing heat to roast a chicken next to me. Some explosions that I felt oddly proud of. In a rush as my systems started to come back online I remembered the abduction from… whenever it was that it happened.

A startled voice yelping gets my attention… on top of my head? I start to move around, looking around to see who was on me. I could feel the crowbar shifting as they held on, trying to keep on top of me and at the same time keep the crowbar wedged between the plates of my armor. They weren't very big, and it didn't take long to shake them off. They roll down my canopy, that is still weird for me to have at the moment, then fall the short, to me, distance to the sands where they hit with a poof of dust.

Looking at them, they were a woman in grubby clothes. Stuff meant to keep you alive in the desert heat. I thought about pinning them under a paw, but I still wasn't used to my body, and with one leg weighing at least forty tons, a mere human would be squashed in an instant so I thought better of it. The blonde looked up and seemed afraid but intrigued. "How are you moving alone?" she asks bewildered.

Truth be told, I didn't know how I moved on my own. I wasn't exactly the foremost expert on Zoid biology and mechanics, so I didn't think what happened to me was possible, much less how it happened. I wanted to say something, but I hadn't figured that part out yet. Instead, I turned away and trundled off, leaving her and her stealthed van to their own devices. She tried to follow, but on foot I easily outpace her. By the time she went back to the van my sensors picked up, I was long gone. Once again, I didn't know what was wanted from inside of me, but I wasn't going to give them much of a chance to poke around. Especially when I didn't know what it could do to my brain. ::Startup complete:: flashes across my HUD, drawing my attention as I walked. Missiles weren't even down one tenth capacity after the attack that brought down the Whale King. I still had almost all the shots from my Hybrid Cannon, and anything else not missile related was an energy based gun. Though there weren't very many of those. Hopefully I would be able to find a way to resupply myself before too long. I wouldn't be able to defend myself, and definitely not as spectacularly as before, forever. Not when most weapons systems required reload.

All that and more began to whirl through my head as I pondered my own existence for the second time in as many days. Would I need fuel? Did I have to sleep, or was that just when I overtaxed my systems? My speed stayed at an even 80 km/h, or for my new body a brisk walk. As usual I had no idea where I was going, but I wasn't going to stick around while some strange girl poked at me with a crowbar. I could sense the van doing its best to catch up to me, but on the uneven sands its tires didn't do so well. I hasten my steps to double my speed at a casual jog to avoid being drug into whatever nonsense she wanted. Not that I had many options laid out before me.

Three hours later I came upon what looked like a trading outpost of some kind. It didn't seem well defended, but then I noticed the Zoid mechanic near the center of town. And the Hovercargo. And hiding behind all that was a Whale King that was moored and keeping position just on the other side of town. Nevermind. This place had more defense than it needed. Not that I planned on causing trouble. I slowly enter the town and 'park' myself somewhere I think is inconspicuous. Namely close enough to the Hovercargo that anybody who saw me would assume I belonged to them.

In all honesty, I just wanted to rest. To stop thinking about what I had become, and constantly having somebody poke inside me wasn't the way to do it. I lock my actuators and go rigid as my brain and Zoid core go into a sort of standby mode. I dreamed for a while; battles that might have been, things from my old life half remembered but probably tinted by rose sunglasses.

I became briefly aware that somebody was attempting to climb me, but not who they were. Sensors said they were bigger than the woman before, so I didn't have to worry about her again. Not for a while anyways. "Stupid Zoid warriors just parking their junk wherever they want, I oughta give whoever's up there what for…" Uh oh. Chronometer said it was only an hour or so later this time. Guess I wouldn't be resting as long as I thought I was. He gets up to my cockpit and there's a moment of him studying the opaque visor that was my forehead. Looking around he can't find any kind of identifying marks of ownership for reasons obvious to me and spits to one side. "Freelance bums…" He presses the cockpit release and the canopy snaps open with a hiss and he climbs in. Pressing a few buttons a slot in the console opens up but the area inside is empty. "What the…? No owner…? Then how did you get here I wonder…"

The monitor before him that normally shows technical readouts and battle data winks on. "I walked," I say in answer through the text on the screen.

"Why are you in my town?" he questions further.

I mentally gulp as I continue. "I was traveling and looking for a place to stay. I thought I could rest here."

"Where did you come from?" His seething seemed placated for now, melting away and being replaced by curiosity at the novelty of a fully autonomous and sentient Zoid.

"I don't know. Far away is the only answer I can give," I answer honestly. It wasn't like I could gain anything by lying. There was no telling where the Whale King had taken me or how long I had been nonfunctioning, so I couldn't lie about it either.

"Then where are you going?" I paused for a long while. I didn't have an answer for this and it showed in a long series of dots across the screen. The man sighs wearily and rubs his fingers through his messy blonde hair. "Then you may as well stay here. I can at least make it so you don't have people bothering you and trying to take you for their own. Zoids don't stay unowned for long in these parts."

I wanted to say 'I know', but I didn't know if he was with those guys on the Whale King. "I accept," I say instead.

"Well then. You'll have to get registered as a Zoid Warrior then. Anybody who stays more or less permanently in my town has to pull their own weight. You don't work, you don't eat. Just be careful going around town. I'm Josh, and you'll be working with the Coalition Team. We're down a man after he quit last month, so you'll bring us back up to three." He climbs back out. "It'll take a day to get you registered. Enjoy the day off. Next time I see you, I'll have your Zoid Gear and you'll take part in a battle happening in two days." He drops down and heads off muttering something about getting himself into things he shouldn't.

Finally my actuators began to release after warming up and charging. 'You and me both,' I think to myself. A shimmer catches my eye to one side and I look at it, but there was nothing there. Sensors picked up nothing but slightly higher temperature. Heat shimmer maybe? I brush it off and start to walk away. As I leave I never even notice the shimmer return and follow after me.


	4. Chapter 3: A Rocky Start

Two days. That's all the time I had before I found myself brought aboard a second Whale King and locked into a storage bay. While I didn't resist, I couldn't help but feel somewhat hesitant after the last one. After an hour long ride, I find myself standing in the sands near an oasis alongside another type of Liger that had a gigantic sword on its back and overhead circled a white eagle type Zoid. The man I now found myself working for had reformatted his old Zoid Gear and I found myself operating as Joshua Legend, a formerly retired Zoid warrior that had a more or less solid record under his belt. Made me think the name was just assumed…

A crash in the distance snaps me out of my thoughts. It almost looked like someone had fired an orbital strike. A white pillar rises out of the crater and the front half opens up. Standing inside of the projectile is a tall white robot with a thin frame. What sounded like warning claxons begin ringing out from the robot's stand. "The area within a thirty mile radius is a designated zoid battlefield," booms an artificial male voice from some loudspeakers. "The zone is now restricted. Only competitors and personnel have authorized entry." It starts to look around. "Danger! All others must leave the area at once." Its entire platform begins to rotate as it scans for anybody who doesn't belong. "This zone is now restricted. Danger!" Once it looked satisfied with the state of the battlefield it began to revert back to its neutral position. "Area scanned. Battlefield set up. The Coalition Team versus the Threat Team. Battle mode zero nine nine zero." The Judge lifts its arms and holds them out. "Ready…"

Before it can cross them a voice squawks across the comms. "Hold it, Judge!" A single feline Zoid decloaks in front of us. Once more I could recognize the thing in front of me easily. It was a Helcat, and that put me on edge. Helcats were usually piloted by less than reputable Zoid warriors, and I started to question what I got myself into. "That ain't the Zoid that we were told we were gonna fight!" came the indignant voice again. Looking to the Judge, it pivots and looks at me and the rest of the team. We? Where were the rest of them? Had they been hoping for easy targets that they could pick off when they wanted from stealth? Their weapons didn't look like they could get through my armor, and they-

"This isn't what you said would happen," came a second, angrier voice over my comms, but it was distorted. Like it was on an encrypted channel but broadcasted to me by mistake. "You said they'd get some nobody, not get an actual warrior in some invincible death tank! Fix this, pronto."

A second transmission hits me, but it isn't comm chatter. This time it's tactical data. Specifically scans of the area. Fifteen. That's how many Helcats there were. All stealthed and all positioned with weapons trained on me and the other Liger. I'm assuming they had some plan for the eagle above. I had to think fast to get this back on track. One of the enemy Zoids was right in front of me, so I lifted a paw and brought it down on the Helcat in front of me, pinning it under a leg that weighed as much as it did. "This isn't who you said we would fight either," I broadcasted using Josh's voice, forcing a confidence I didn't really feel. "How many did you say we were going to fight again?"

"Four, you old fart. You gettin' senile as well as fat? And that's one of our four, so get the hell offa him." His Helcat roars and gets low as if it were about to pounce.

"I doubt that," I retort. "I reckon I got about a one in four chance of actually hitting on of your four when you have fifteen zoids cloaked around the field." The Judge looks like it forgets the comment about me not being 'the right Zoid' and turns back to the lone visible Helcat.

"The agreed upon Zoid battle between the Coalition Team and the Threat Team is seven Zoids total participating; one Murasame Liger, one Buster Eagle, four Helcats, and one unknown," the Judge interjects. "Coalition Team is within the bounds of the agreed upon battle. Threat Team is found to be-" A shot rings out and the Judge is silenced. Permanently.

"Well, I knew this wouldn't work forever. I must say I'm impressed," came a deep smooth voice. "How'd you do it? Panzers aren't usually kitted out for stealth detection. Getting help from somewhere?" There is a terse while of silence. "New plan; take them down hard and we'll sell the scrap to make up the difference." Sure enough, thirteen zoids decloak and I get into a defensive stance, pressing down and pinching the Helcat I have pinned in two on accident. Fourteen to go, I guess. Shots ring out across the battlefield and explosions fill the air around the Buster Eagle.

I fire a cluster of missiles at the lone visible Helcat and it cloaks in response, presumably disappearing to a new area. More tactical data streams in and the enemy locations update and keep updating. Was it the Buster Eagle? Was that why they wanted it gone? Then it crashes next to me, prompting me to jump to the side. Or rather… I lurch to one side and hobble to stay on my feet. I fire a barrage of missiles over the battlefield to make it uneven and difficult to move without kicking up dust. Or so I hoped. Another chorus of shots rings out and less than a second later the Liger disappears in a collection of explosions while the pilot was trying to figure out what was happening and how it ramped downhill so quickly.

While I am distracted by the 'disappearance' of the Liger another group of shots ring out and everything disappears in a wall of flame and I shudder under the blows. Then a single shot rings out much louder than the others. It seemed familiar, but… "Boss, units six and ten are down!"

"Damn it… find that sniper and add it to the scrap heap. If we botch this I'll make sure-" The rest of his sentence is cut off by another shot and him screaming as his Helcat becomes visible and falls to the ground. A sniper? Did we have a mystery fourth person ourselves? Various blips around the battlefield began to wink out and the Helcats fell to the ground. Boulders would explode from random directions, ricocheting the bullets at strange angles and giving the Helcats no way of tracking them back to their owner.

Before I can figure out what happened, the last enemy target winks out and falls over just to my left. I back away cautiously looking back and forth. Smoke fills the air around me all of a sudden and that white and gold fox Zoid from before decloaks in front of me. If there was a time to be afraid of something, this was it; something about the smoke scrambled my sensors and kept me from getting a clear read on it, and the comm chatter I would have been getting came in garbled. It stares me down for a few moments before it cloaks again and is gone by the time the smoke cleared. I looked around the wreckage. The Buster Eagle was a mess. One of the wings was missing and the shape the head was in didn't show a lot of promise for the pilot. The Liger, on the other hand was most definitely scrapped. The armor was full of holes and the limbs were all mangled. This wasn't going to bode well for me. If I took damage, I didn't notice it. I look back and all that I can tell is that some paint was scuffed off to show a curious bluish metal underneath. I'd have to get that looked at later on, but for now? I had a long walk back to the Whale King with that heat shimmer following once more.


End file.
